1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that has a built-in hard disk drive (HDD) and a head retraction processing method of the built-in hard disk drive.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a portable device such as a note-type PC, it is important to protect the device against shock if the device is mistakenly dropped or if the shock is applied from the outside when the device is carried by hand or normally used. In particular, in a magnetic disk drive such as a hard disk drive (HDD) used as a recording device, a magnetic head reads and writes data from and to a rotating magnetic disk. Thus, when the magnetic head collides with the magnetic disc due to shock or vibration applied to the device, the magnetic disk may be damaged and data recorded thereon may be destroyed. Although the HDD may have a built-in acceleration sensor, the HDD temporarily stops writing data on the disc in many cases. Even if the HDD retracts the head, it may not precisely control its operation.
To solve this problem, an acceleration sensor or the like may be built in the device. When the acceleration or an amount of its change that the acceleration sensor detects exceeds a predetermined level, the device may retract the magnetic head to a data-free landing zone.
In this related art, when the HDD is subjected to shock or vibration, the HDD temporarily stops writing data to the record medium. However, when the HDD stops writing data to the record medium, data may be prevented from being written to an incorrect address. However, since the head is placed immediately above the medium, if the head is subjected to strong shock or vibration, the head may contact the medium. As a result, the head may be damaged.
To solve such a problem, a sensor such as an acceleration sensor may be used to detect shock or vibration applied to the HDD. When the sensor detects shock or vibration, the HDD retracts the head to the data-free landing zone. In this related art for example Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-346840, it is determined whether or not the device is being dropped corresponding to acceleration for the X axis, Y axis, and Z axis. When this state is detected, the head of the HDD is retracted to the data-free landing zone.